I am a college graduate who earns his living working as an hourly on a factory floor. I have found that I prefer this to retail management and customer service, which I have also done though admittedly it does not pay as well. I am a Bible Believing Christian and politically I am center-right. This is just a place where I share my thoughts on anything that catches my mind.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

More GM Layoffs

The plant that makes the Chevy SSR, sort of a combination pick-up truck and roadster, is shutting down for six weeks, idling 400 workers plus part suppliers. Fortunately, my company is not involved with this particular program.

What is sad is that these employees have been laid off for3o weeks so far this year, which includes this current layoff. Link to story.

GM and the UAW need to face reality and adjust to it. While I don't put a whole lot of stock in Darwin, the idea of "adapt or die" is an undeniable fact of existance. GM does not rule the roost anymore and they need to learn how to live with this fact. The hourly employees and retirees have to face the reality of either losing a lot or losing everything, and they too must learn to live with this.

There is also this from the opinion page of the Lansing State Journal, and I have to agree with this line.

"And even with wage limits, GM jobs remain some of the most lucrative in the manufacturing world".

This commentator goes on to use this as an excuse for a federal healthcare policy but that only transfers the problem to the government and does not solve the root of healthcare problems in America.

Meanwhile Governor Granholm is at least talking to the Big 3 and Congress and some of her ideas have merit but others are little more than political grandstanding. I would urge her to go to Japan, South Korea etc and make a pitch to their companies to open plants in Michigan or at least the Midwest.

A federal automotive summit may not be a bad idea, but I wish Senator Clinton would stay away from it; she is creates more problems than she solves and needs to get out of public life.

About Me

From High School I went into the Navy where I served a little over two years and got discharged for medical reasons. I studied and trained for the Ministry but am temperamentally unsuited for that job so I entered retail and food management for several years. I really wanted to write fiction so I decided to get a factory job while I did it. I found that I am actually happy producing things in a factory and I have written a couple of novels, which I hope never see the light of day :-D.